When Lightning Strikes
by Starkonium
Summary: So Tony Stark decides to cut himself off from the world one day and Steve Rogers finally gets him out and just happens to fall in love with AND I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE FORMATTING. YES I GOT A NEW COMPUTER AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WORK IT YET. WARNING: This is a Stony, so it is m/m and will be updated soon.
1. Chapter 1

For years I've never known why man feel what they feel, but I know when you feel the wrong thing, it really hurts.

-Unknown

The sun breached over the buildings in the overcrowded city of New York, bringing the start of a new day to the people of the city, or, in Tony Stark's case, another night and day that had passed straight past him without a blink of sleep. Tony made his round in the shop, making a mental checklist as he went along, uselessly counting off the countless projects he had started, gotten distracted from, then moved onto something else that seemed to catch his attention more. The sunlight glinted off a piece of metal that laid astray from his work table and shone right in his eyes. Tony couldn't help but hiss a little and quickly throw his hands up to shield his eyes. /It's probably time to actually leave../ He thought bitterly. It had been five days since Tony left, and five extra days since he had actually physical contact, let alone looked at another person, and it happened to just hit him how awfully lonely Tony was. He sniffled a little as he briefly pitted himself, but soon got over it. With a soft sigh, he made his way back to the work table and pushed a weeks worth (Or possibly more) of trash to the ground and slowly sat down at it. His table was clean, but also like his mind. The only thing that was on his mind happened to be a nice warm meal and some crappy coffee. It would be amazing if he could land his hands on either, but that would mean human contact, and he drew the line at that. Tony sifted through all the junk that he had knocked to the ground, found what he had been recently working on and picked it from all the litter. He found his soldering tool and quickly heated it up, tacking the last parts of the glove to his newest Iron Man suit together. He inspected it for any impurities and when it passed his careful and judging eye, Tony slipped it on slowly and flexed his fingers. It wasn't hooked to the Arc nor had any life in it, but he could almost feel the ghost of the energy that should have surged through it. His eyes closed, the longest they had been closed in almost a week and let out a deep sigh, letting the feeling of all that power run through his system, this disperse. He opened his eyes, only to see his Arc had flared up and was shining brighter than it usually did. His little moment of complete silence was interrupted when the Avengers that lived above his head in the Stark Towers began to move around. Tony was getting to the point where he knew who they where by just listening to their foot falls. This was Steve first. He knew it was, since Steve was the only one that actually woke up at this god awful hour of the morning. It was so much easier to just stay awake till this hour than willingly wake up. He heard the fridge open and Steve rummage through it, then it close and heard as the walking steps turned into runs and Steve started his daily morning run. Tony only rolled his eyes. "Only idiots see it fit to run at this time in the morning." He muttered sourly and turned back to the glove on his hand. He gave it a appalled look and discarded it into the recyclable metal bin, as if the glove had burned his skin and his eyes. He ran two calloused hands over his face slowly, feeling as his mind gave up trying to cope with no sleep and Tony's constant work and just shut down on him. Tony couldn't hold out anymore, took the shop off of lockdown and then just fell to the floor where he slept in a peaceful bliss for a little while, but soon, his nightmares took over and tortured him the rest of the time.

It had been a nice cool day for Steve on this run, the days lately had been too cold, making the super soldier shiver for at least 30 minutes before he finally warmed up and eventually had to strip off his jacket. But, for once, it was just right and Steve marveled in the perfection in the air. He stretched on the sidewalk, Steve never ran before stretching-against his military training or something-, cracked his neck and then started jogging in place before taking off at a nice leisurely pace. He was perfectly content with this, all his worries about the 40's and what he was supposed to about now being trapped in the 21st century. It all just started to disappear and Steve couldn't help but smile, but one thing constantly chewed and nagged and ripped at his brain. Why was Tony avoiding him. He thought that maybe Tony and him had actually started to build a nice friend relationship, and he was crushed when Tony started ignoring him, then ended up completely shutting himself from the world, leaving Steve a little distressed on what he might have done wrong. Maybe he'd go try to talk to Tony, but spend most of the day looking in the glass door of the shop and occasionally knocking on the door. He didn't have a code, let alone know how to enter a code into whatever panel you were supposed to, but he had grown a pretty nice friendly relationship with Jarvis, and would look to the ceiling and politely ask the British AI to let him, but Jarvis would always sadly apologize to Steve and say he couldn't, which would make Steve huff a little. He did catch a few times when he toted a book down there and had started reading, back pressed up against the door, Tony looking at him with an unreadable expression. The moment Steve would look at him, Tony's head was already down and working again. Steve, shook his head, and almost crashed into a cart that was selling hot chocolate. "Sorry!" He called over his shoulder as he heard the man shout something with a heavy New York accent. /Stay focused Rogers./ Steve chanted in his head a few times until he was completely into the running. His pace sped up and he took off down the sidewalk.

Tony was discovered later that day when Steve had come home finally from his run, about three hours after lunch. He hadn't showered yet and was still in his sweaty jacket and workout clothes, but he wouldn't think Tony would even care since the fact that it didn't seem like Tony even knew he existed anymore. He looked down at the book he grabbed. /Tony does have good taste in books./ Steve thought as he read the title out loud. "Oliver Twis- Tony!" Steve saw him laying on the ground. Steve couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, but when he saw him twitch, the muscles in Steve's back and new relaxed a bit and his heart slowed down from the rabbit's pace it had started up to. "Jarvis? May I enter today?" Steve asked kindly as he looked up at the ceiling. "Indeed, Captain Rogers." Jarvis replied much to Steve's shock. He dropped the book as he heard the hiss of the door opening and was almost knocked back as the smell of Tony's shop punched him straight in the face. He gagged once, pulled his not even as close as stinky jacket to cover his nose and jogged into the lab. He had to watch his step because of the incredibly terrible mess that Tony had made. Steve leaped over a pile of metal and landed beside Tony. /Thank god he's finally sleeping. It's been 5 days since I've seen him sleep./ Steve thought, much to his relief. He decided that he'd suffer the terrible smell of the shop so he could pick of the billionaire engineer, also known as the famous Iron Man off the ground with two arms and carry him bridal style. He knew if Tony woke up and saw him carrying him like this, he'd either let out a rude quip on what he was doing, or just completely act like no one was there, and the air was simply carrying him to bed. Steve gently slipped his arm around Tony's back and in the crooks of his knees, and slowly lifted him up, making sure not to wake him. As Steve placed his feet carefully and slowly around all the junk in the shop, it took twice as long to make it back as it did to make it to Tony's side. As he walked down the silent corridor that only betrayed the sounds of the other Avengers sleeping, he kept hearing Tony mumble little things and saw as the sweat began to build on his brow. Steve got a little nervous that maybe he was doing this to Tony and quickened his pace. He opened the door to Tony's own floor that he had when Pepper and him lived together happily, but those days were gone. Pepper had left him months, and Tony had never been all that right after that happened. Steve slowly set him down on the bed, deciding to be all Captain America like and go ahead and at least change Tony from the 10 day old clothes and get him into some fresh PJ's. He slipped Tony's shirt off and swapped it out with a different one, a white shirt, and slipped his jeans off and put some plush pajama pants that had the Iron Man face mask all over them. Steve rolled his eyes. /Oh Tony./ He thought and let out a little chuckle. He pulled the red comforter around Tony, then left his room, the door making a soft click behind him.

Tony woke several days later. /Damn, my body needed more sleep than I thought/ He thought, blinking slowly and trying to get everything to focus. It took a few minutes, but he was able to stand. He looked down at himself, and instantly wondered how he got into bed, AND had a fresh change of clothes on, AND why was there a glass of water sitting on his nightstand? AND is that fresh food? His mind reeled, but singled out on the food and his hunger got the best of him and he wolfed the food down. His stomach cramped up a little from eating to fast and he doubled over just slightly, extremely grateful there was water now, but he still needed his coffee. When the sick feeling passed, Tony stood and walked on shaky legs down the same corridor Steve had carried him down 3 days ago. He made it to the kitchen and smelled this mornings cooking still hanging in the air and sighed a little at that smell. He looked around and saw all the Avengers still sitting around and snacking on what little food they had left on their plates. Bruce spotted him first. "Hey! Tony's awake!" He said with a smile. Steve practically beamed at him, and Tony didn't understand why he blushed. He ducked his head away from them and started to hurry off to the stairs that led to his lab, but felt a hand softly settle itself on his shoulder. Tony looked up to see it was Steve that had gotten up. /God, how does he move so fast?/ "Steve, let me go. I have work to do."

"Tony, no. You haven't taken a shower in almost 10 days, and your lab is so dirty and smells so bad, I'm surprised the air hasn't poisoned you." Steve's voice was stern. "I'm not letting you back in there until you eat more, take a shower and when your lab is clean. The whole team is going to be working on your lab-"

"It's a shop." Tony said slightly annoyed.

"Sorry, shop." Steve said, giving him a look that said 'no nonsense, Tony Stark.' Tony only sighed and nodded in agreement with Steve's rules, soon sitting down beside Bruce and Steve. He watched as Steve got up and brought him a plate of food that smelled so damn good. Tony tore in shamelessly, no one commented on the mess he made though, they all understood just how hungry he really was.

After Steve made sure Tony took a shower-he stood outside the door and asked Tony ever so often if he was okay and so he couldn't escape- everyone but Tony started to work on the shop. Clint and Bruce almost threw up from the smell, but swallowed their bile and trudged on. During the entire time they cleaned, Jarvis filtered new air into the shop, like he had to do for Tony many times when he knew the playboy couldn't breathe. The entire time they cleaned, Tony was only allowed to watch from the sound proof and shatter resistant glass. Jarvis firmly kept him locked out, and even if he hacked Jarvis, Steve and Natasha usually held the door closed until Tony huffed loudly and stormed off to God knows where, but it was most likely the movie room so he could pout and watch Firefly and Serenity to his heart's content. They worked for almost two weeks on the shop until it was spotless and looked beautiful again, and smelled excellent-thanks to Natasha and her various perfumes. When the Avengers retreated from the shop, Steve made sure Jarvis kept it in lockdown. He actually really enjoyed spending time with Tony, a bit more than he thought he would. Tony had started introducing Steve to the marvel of the movies of this century, usually blowing Steve's mind with them. The first movie that Tony had shown Steve just happened to be Avatar, a revelation of it's own. Steve had gasped and oohed and awed the entire time, and every time Steve got so eager about it, Tony would give him a smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and he would then chuckle and Steve just reveled in that, and sometimes he faked his own awe just to see and hear that. That smile got him more excited than anything in the 21st century had. As the climbed the stairs, the clear sound of some action movie playing could be heard as the base rattled the walls a little, then realistic gunshots filled the house, making Steve jump a little. He'd never get used to how real that sounded. Steve slowly made his way through the halls that seemed to enjoy confusing him so bad and finally found his way to the movie room. He had to cover his ears, as Tony had it turned up much too loud. He used the volume wheel that happened to be conveniently located right at the entrance of the of the room. He turned it down to where his ears could hear it and heard a loud whine from the pile of bean bags that laid in the middle of the room- Tony had a thing for bean bags and he had no idea why- and made his way over to where Tony lay. Steve sat down next to the pile and caught Tony rolling over next to him. He felt Tony's presence so close, the spark he felt, like lighting on a humid summer day, that kind of lightning that makes your hair stand on end, the kind of lightning that you knew that you where about to be hit with and your life would never be the same. Steve shifted slightly. He felt Tony move closer and they touched, not that they hadn't like bumped into each other before, but this was just different. They touched and Steve felt that summer lightning strike him and his life change forever.


	2. Chapter 2

"I've never believed in the fact that true love existed until it shot me in the chest."

-Unknown

After that movie, Steve had been trying to spend his every waking moment with Tony. He had even made his runs to where they ended right as Tony was waking up- which was usually around 10-11 AM. Steve wasn't going to lie, he was really glad that Tony was finally starting to sleep, but he couldn't help but feel a little sad that he didn't get to spend every second with Tony watching movies or just doing fun things. Steve wiped his brow as the elevator opened on the Avengers's floor and he stepped off, looking around to see Tony sitting in his big, plush maroon robe, sipping on coffee. Steve smiled when Tony looked over. "I'm not gonna lie, Capsicle. It's kinda creepy that your run always seems to end just as I'm waking up." He gave Steve a studious look. Steve only shrugged. "I've always run at this time." He commented. "No you haven't. When I was awake all night and day, I heard you go out way earlier and come back way earlier than you are now. What are you up to, Rogers?" Steve immediately felt his face heat up a little and he quickly yanked his sweaty hoodie over his head. The room had suddenly gotten much hotter than the 60 degrees Tony insisted it ALWAYS stay at. He pulled at his shirt collar and took a quick pace as he walked away.

Tony wasn't sure what had actually happened in the kitchen that morning. Had he unnerved Steve? Said something wrong that made Steve get extremely uncomfortable around him? He couldn't figure it out. If there was one thing in the world that seemed to completely stump the billionaire, it was Steve Rogers. Tony could never figure out exactly what was going through his mind, and that was saying something, because Tony Stark was VERY good at reading people. Tony decided that a much needed trip to his shop was in hand that day. It had been almost two weeks since the Avengers had cleaned up Tony's shop and almost that long since Tony had stepped a foot in. He instinctively braced himself for the disgusting smell that was always in there, but when only good smells and fresh air hit his nose and mouth, he couldn't help but sigh deeply and think of Steve. Wait. Hold up. Was that right? He was now thinking of Steve? He must have still been sleep deprived. Tony shook his head once and walked into the lab. "Wake up, daddy's back." He said like always and snapped his fingers at his computers, suits and holograms. He plopped down in the rolly chair he loved so much, spinning slightly and coming up to one of his desks. Tony quickly typed something out and watched as several holograms popped up. "Jarvis, how is the progress on Storm?"

"About 75%, Sir."

"Alright, great. Get the pieces ready for paint, then get it up for a test run."

"Estimated time: about seven hours. Do you want to be notified when it is done?"

"You know me so well. Of course." Tony smiled at his holograms and waved his hand, the holograms slowly flickering off. Tony shut down the shop and bounded up the stairs and into the movie room. He patiently waited for Steve. Steve was never late for a movie day, Tony himself was sometimes, but he was getting better. After almost ten minutes, Tony looked around and saw that Steve was no were. Not even getting popcorn like he usually did. Everything was quiet. Tony slowly crawled off the bean bags and walked around the Avenger's apartment, looking for his missing Super Soldier.

Steve couldn't face Tony right now. He sat on the roof of the Stark Towers, looking as the sun set. He felt so bad for ditching out on Tony and leaving him there, probably pissed off and sad that Steve hadn't come to watch a movie with him, but he just couldn't do it. Tony had basically caught him red handed, and there was nothing he could say to that, I mean, what was he supposed to say? "Oh, hi, I'm Steve Rogers and when we happened to be watching a movie, you bumped into me and it felt like lightning struck me and now I'm undeniably in love with you?" Yea, that was never going to happen. Tony was his /friend/. Nothing less, nothing more. Tony would never be his nothing more. Steve needed to stop letting Tony take over his mind like this, and infect his thoughts as badly as he did. He let out a soft sigh. Steve heard the elevator ding and quickly turned around, expecting Natasha, or even Bruce. They always seemed to find out where the soldier seemed to go to think, but the person that stepped from the elevator was none other than Tony Stark. Red instantly creeped onto Steve's face and his eyes got a little wide. "What the hell Steve?" Tony said heatedly. "Tony.. Don't." He responded with, actually seeing how mad he had made Tony, he wasn't going to lie, but it really shocked him that Tony was THIS worked up over just skipping a movie. "Like, what the hell do you think you're doing!? Like, do you think just because I fucking confronted you on your stupid workout schedule, you can just go and fucking ignore me!? Like come on Steve! I thought we were friends!" Steve noted that when Tony got mad, he seriously used his hands to talk. "Tony I-"

"-No, you know what Steve. Whatever. Skip out on me every day if you want, I don't give a fuck anymore. I'm going down to the shop. Don't even bother of trying to get in." Tony gave Steve a cold look before walking back into the elevator. Steve could have sworn to God that when that elevator was almost closed, he saw tears streaming down Tony's face.

Tony couldn't believe that he had said all that to Steve. He didn't know where it came from, but it just like came out, and it kinda scared Tony that he had blown up that bad and that he might end up like his father. /No. I am not going to end up like Howard./ He snarled in his mind. He slammed the delicate motherboard he had been working on, it breaking to millions of pieces. Tony stared at it for what seemed like hours until he heard a knock on the glass door, seeing none other than Steve standing there, holding one of those damn books that he always seemed to have with him. Maybe he just pulled books out of his ass or something. Tony gave Steve a cold look and just shook his head and waved his hand at the glass door. It immediately tinted and Steve nor Tony could no longer be seen through it. Tony looked back at the glass, feeling the tears stream down his face just like they had when he was on the elevator. "Dammit!" He shouted and pushed a little table down. Tony went on a complete rampage, destroying his ship, He just couldn't help it. These feelings where so foreign and he didn't know how to deal with them, so the only thing he know to do was destroy. That seemed to be the only thing he was good at lately. He couldn't even build a OK looking Iron Man suit. Storm has failed drastically after being painted, and had to be destroyed immediately in the furnace that laid in the basement of the Stark Towers. After Tony's rampage ended, his back slammed against the wall and then slid down slowly, leaving his knees pulled up to his chest and his thoughts tearing his mind to shreds.

After the door tinted to a murky brown, making it impossible for him to see Tony, Steve's heart dropped drastically. He put his hand up to the glass, resting his forehead on it. Steve felt the tears sting his eyes and wiped at them. "Oh Tony." He whispered, hearing as the shop was destroyed. "Tony. Tony, please let me in." Steve hit against the glass a little. "Tony, I'm serious. Please let me in." When he didn't hear anything but silence, Steve felt his mind instantly kick into hyper drive and his breath seemed to be harder to catch and the worst case scenario bled into his vision. "Tony! Tony, please! Let me in!" Steve beat hard against the glass now. "Tony!? Tony are you okay!?" His voice had a highly noticeable panicked tone in it, and he didn't even try to fight it anymore. Steve was about to knock the damn door down just to make sure that Tony was OK. He didn't care anymore about Tony's privacy. "Goddammit, Tony! Please!" He said, his beating and shouting getting louder, it stirred the other Avengers and they slowly started migrating down to the door where Steve was. None went down the stairs, but instead just watched from the top, concern filling all their faces. Steve hit the door once more with all his strength, and then heard it hiss. Jarvis had opened it for him. Steve flew into the shop like a bat out of hell, wildly looking for where the Stark had gone. The one thing that seemed to register in his mind was, /Where's the Arc glow. Oh my god, where's the Arc glow!/ He spotted Tony curled up on the floor, the arc laying just feet from his reach. Tony was a nasty pale, sweat soaking the white shirt he wore. His brown eyes where clouded and confused and Tony weakly reached for the Arc once more before his hand just dropped from the ground as he ran out of strength to even try anymore. Steve felt his world stop, his heart shatter and just everything around him collapse. "TONY!" He faintly heard himself shriek as he rushed to the billionaire's side and collapsed beside him. "Oh my god. No. No, Tony. No no no no . Tony, don't you dare do this to me." Steve picked up the glowing Arc from the ground and pushed him gently to his back. Steve looked from the Arc to Tony's chest and stumbled with his hands as he tried to figure out what to do. "Captain Rogers, press it into the hole and turn it until you hear a click." Jarvis quipped in, the hint of fear in the AI's voice. Steve quickly did as he told, rotating the Arc until it was the right way and then he pressed it in and turned, hearing that click. He caressed Tony in his arms, burying his face in his shoulder. Steve let the tears fall, he didn't care anymore. He had probably just lost Tony and he didn't even know what to do anymore. Nothing felt right. Everything felt wrong. Everything WAS wrong. "Tony.. Please. Please come back to me. Please." Steve begged. He needed some mercy in his life, He had lost everyone from the 40's and now he was going to lose the one person he loved in this century. "Tony please!" He cried out. He pulled away from Tony's shoulder and gently brushed that chocolate brown hair from his face, running his thumb over Tony's aged features and a sad smile came to his face. "You know, I loved you. A lot. From the first day we met. I thought it was only a friendship kind of love, but that movie we watched that one night, what was it? Oh, Buffy. You were introducing me to Buffy and you rolled close to me, and all of a sudden it felt like lightning hit me, and god, I knew right then and there it was more than just a friendship I wanted with you, but I knew it'd never happen, so I respected your choice and didn't tell you.. And now.." Steve choked. "And now you've gone and left me, you damn Stark. You left me here alone to try and figure out this dammed 21st century by myself. Damn you Tony Stark. Damn you for leaving me." He stroked his cheek softly, and leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to Tony's forehead. Steve rested his own forehead on Tony's after the kiss, feeling the sobs wrack his body. His tears dotted Tony's face and gave it the illusion that Tony was crying with him. Steve wanted to kiss those aged lips so bad, it wasn't even funny anymore. He looked down at them, seeing as they parted slightly, how inviting and comforting they looked. /Oh what the hell. It's the last time I'll ever get to do this./ He thought in his broken and distressed mind. Steve moved down slowly, pressing his lips gently to Tony's. It was nothing more than a beautiful kiss. A beautiful kiss Steve tried to hold out as long as he could without it seeming weird he was kissing a dead man, but that actually didn't matter to him. He'd sit here all day long with his lips pressed to Tony's if he had to. If that would bring him back. Steve deepened the kiss slightly, pulling Tony closer. It was like Snow White and her Prince, but much more tragic. Steve finally parted their lips, numbly tasting the whiskey taste Tony's lips had left on his own. He gently ran the back of his hand over the side of Tony's face. Steve bent down so his lips where only millimeters from Tony's ear and his hot and heavy breath could be felt"I love you, Anthony Edward Stark." He whispered with a broken tone in his ear. Steve pulled away from Tony's ear, just looking at that peaceful face. He just couldn't believe it. Tony was gone.

It wasn't until Tony felt Steve's lips pressed against his that he knew his true feelings, and he finally knew that he couldn't be scared of those feelings anymore. He had to face them, and that he was ready for face them. To face Steve. /Come on lungs, breath./ He urged in his mind, trying to get the rest of his body to react. Finally. Tony gasped for air, his eyes opening wide. He saw Steve's shocked and ecstatic face and just acted on instinct. He grabbed Steve's shirt and pulled him down, meeting him halfway for an extremely heated kiss. He felt Steve's hands run across his back and pull him closer. His eyes shut slowly, the last thing on his eyes, Steve's gorgeous face.


End file.
